Free Muni for low-income youth funded

Like a slow bus forced to lurch through heavy traffic (The 30-Stockton comes to mind), the two-year battle by youth activists for a Free Muni for Youth program successfully reached its desired destination Tuesday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Agency voted unanimously to spend an estimated $1.6 million in federal funds dedicated to improving transit performance and ridership on a 16-month program offering free Fast Passes to low-income San Franciscans under 18.

The program is scheduled to begin in March and continue through June 2014.

Youth activists, headed by the group POWER, have been pushing for a free youth fare program for nearly two years with the backing of Supervisor David Campos.

“Many families will benefit from this program,” said Elena Martinez, a parent supporting the plan. “Thank you for investing in our children.”

Last April, as part of the budget process, the MTA board rejected the idea of giving a free ride to all kids but tentatively OK’d plans for a program for low-income youth. That approval depended on getting up to $5 million in funds from the regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which declined the request out of concerns of regional fairness.

But last month, the commission gave the MTA a $6.7 million allotment of federal funds that can be used for ridership-boosting programs or for repairs and maintenance to improve system performance. Those funds prompted some members of the Board of Supervisors, who don’t officially have any say over Muni operations, to oppose the free-fare program and instead devote all of the funding toward better maintenance of Muni.

“It’s a balancing of different needs,” he said. “We have the needs of the system and we have the needs of the community.”

Director Malcolm Heinicke voiced concern about funding the free fare program when Muni has so many maintenance needs but voted for the program because he said the agency had made a commitment to proceed if it got funding from the commission.